Milwaukee fans of G. Love & Special Sauce have the chance to help themselves to another helping when the breezy, alternative hip-hop group comes to Turner Hall March 21, one year and one week after its last performance at Turner on March 15th this year.

Advance tickets are $17.25 and available beginning at noon Dec. 14 at the Pabst Theater box office, 144 E. Wells St., the Riverside Theater box office, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave., by calling (414) 286-3663 and visiting pabsttheater.org. Tickets are $22.25 on the day of the show. | Dec. 7, 2012»Read Full Article

The United Performing Arts Fund, which provides core operating funds to area performing arts groups, will move from its longtime home at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts to the Grand Avenue Mall, 301 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 600, the group announced at its annual meeting Thursday. The move will take place at the end of the year.

Christmas is a messy holiday, piled high with associations both religious and secular, inextricably intertwined with misty family memories and hazy recollections of parties, bathed in forced cheer and genuine warmth.

Thursday night at Turner Hall Ballroom, Sufjan Stevens gloried in the contradictions and excesses, and he added his own: The show was variously called "Christmess [sic] Sing-A-Long" and "Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant on Ice." | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Article(2)

The owners of BelAir Cantina on the east side will reopen a closed bar across the street in January and name it Fink's.

Previously Redroom, owned by Julia LaLoggia of Stonefly and Ginger, the bar at 1875 N. Humboldt Ave. will keep its neighborhood character with a “rec room” feel, co-owner Kristyn St. Denis said in a written statement. | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Blog Post

The sponsor of The Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival today announced the festival's cancellation because of "funding issues."

The West Bend Sunrise Rotary had supported the annual festival for 15 years, but announced the fest's permanent demise because funding through ticket sales and other sources had not "reached the level needed to continue," said spokesman Dave Amoroso. | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Article(7)

Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien and executor of his father's literary estate, expressed disappointment in the films made of the books by Peter Jackson.

During his first interview in 40 years in June, with the French publication Le Monde, Tolkien, 87, said that Jackson "eviscerated the book by making it" into "an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25," he said of the "Lord of the Rings" films. "And it seems that 'The Hobbit' will be the same kind of film." | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Blog Post(1)

Hurray for second acts. They make it possible to admire a spin on wedge salad, inhale a flatbread topped with delicious house-made sausage, savor duck with wine-fig sauce and delight in an elegant little pear crostata for dessert.

Potawatomi Bingo Casino reopened its Wild Earth restaurant in September. The first incarnation, which closed in 2009, had an intriguing menu highlighting state foods and American Indian dishes, but it never really took off. | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Article(1)

Nothing like a few pirates to liven up the holiday season. The Jolly Roger is now waving over the Milwaukee Public Museum for the new "Real Pirates" traveling exhibit. Read my Weekend Cue story to learn what pirate treasures await discovery at the exhibit. Feel free to practice your "arrrghs" as you read.

Middle-earth fans have been waiting for Peter Jackson's screen version of "The Hobbit" for years. Was the wait worth it? Is Gollum still nasty? Is the dragon a worthy wise-guy? See what Movie Critic Duane Dudek thinks in his review here. | Dec. 14, 2012»Read Full Blog Post